Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2014)

16 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? APRIL 2014 OSV TECHNOLOGY the vessel?s hull. There is virtually no downtime as en-gine servicing can be done with one or more engines off line. Modern electronic systems have made diesel electric gen-erator sets reliable and easily managed. It is, then, little wonder that this form of powering the modern offshore ß eet is gaining even more followers.Brazil?s Bravante Group in late Feb-ruary took delivery of the M/V Bravante VI, their second in a Þ ve vessel series of diesel-electric PSVs, from Eastern Ship-building. Bravante V delivered in 2013 is already on charter in Brazilian waters.Designed by STX and designated the STX SV290 design the 86.5-m (284-ft.) by 18.3-m (60-ft.) by 7.5-m (24-ft.) vessels are built around four Cummins-powered generators. Each 16-cylinder Cummins QSK60-DM engine rated for 1825 kW at 1800 rpm powers a Mara- thon Model 744 690VAC generator also supplied by Cummins.A pair of 690VAC electric motors each turning nozzled Þ xed-pitch propellers on Schottel Combi-Drives provides main propulsion. These two propulsion motors are each rated at 2,500 kW at 750 RPM to give a total of 6700 HP. Two Schottel 1180 kW tunnel thrusters with direct coupled electric drives also draw their power from the four main Cummins QSK60-powered generators. The ß exibility of the diesel electric system in providing power to both ends of the vessel as well as to a wide array of cargo pumps and general ship require- ments continues to attract owners? atten- tion and orders. Innovative propulsion technology is also evident on a series of PSVs being built in Japan. Modular liquid-cooled drives and PLCs from ABB have been included in VARD ELECTRO?s appli- cation-speciÞ c propulsion and thruster power solutions for offshore supply ves- sels. The electric motor propulsion tech- nology designed by VARD ELECTRO is used on a series of six platform-supply vessels (PSVs) - the Þ rst two of which currently are being built in Japan. Twenty years ago, in response to grow- ing global competition and demands for ever-more sophisticated propulsion performance, the innovative shipbuild-ing group VARD decided to bring its systems integration function in-house. VARD established a fully owned daugh- ter company, VARD ELECTRO, spe- cializing in system integration and de-velopment and providing tailor-made marine electronics solutions for offshore specialized vessels. VARD ELECTRO looked for a drives and control supplier that could provide a highly conÞ gurable drives platform, and chose drives from ABB?s ACS800 range, with control provided by ABB?s AC500 PLCs. For each vessel of the six PSVs which are being built in Japan, ABB is supply- ing Þ ve PLC-controlled variable-speed drives to control a total of over 6MW of power: two 2MW drive systems for the main engines, two 730kW drives for bowthrusters, and one 730kW drive for a dual-fed bowthruster that is able to sur- vive the failure of either of the vessel?s two power generators. The ABB drives and controller system are now part of VARD ELECTRO?s new SeaQ Power intelligent power systems range, which was created during the past year. Before delivering the new electric power propulsion control system, VARD ELECTRO performed detailed testing on the PLC and drive combinations at its test facility in Søvik, Norway. These trials were also witnessed by VARD ELECTRO?s Japanese shipyard custom- er. The integrated control system passed all of its tests and VARD ELECTRO now has shipped the propulsion systems for the Þ rst two vessels. The very Þ rst vessel with this technol-ogy will be launched in mid 2014, and will be destined for use in platform sup-ply applications.Incat Crowther said that Veecraft Marine delivered a pair of 20m Mono-hull Crewboats and signed a contract to build a 30m Wave Piercing Catamaran Crew Boat. Hot on the heels of deliver- ing Magen Defender and Masud Defend-er, the South African yard commenced construction of a 30m Wave Piercing Catamaran Crew Boat for Africa Diving Service Ltd. of Nigeria.The 20m Monohull Crewboats feature a large cargo deck forward, with a pair of doors from the passenger compartment allowing bow loading either side of the foredeck cargo. The main deck passen- ger cabin features seating for 25 pas-sengers and a head with lavatory. Under the raised pilothouse are bins for passen-gers? luggage. A notable requirement for the vessels is their bulletproof pilothouse. As well as Þ tting bulletproof glass, they are plated with Armox 500T steel, capable of with- standing an AK-47 cartridge Þ red at a distance of 10m.The pilothouse features overhead win-dows forward to enhance visibility when approaching offshore platforms. Heavy duty replaceable fendering is Þ tted all round, and a 3,000 l/hr remote control Þ re monitor is Þ tted to the pilothouse roof.The vessels are each Þ tted with a pair of MAN 2842 LE410 main engines, each producing 824kW. Propulsion is via a pair of propellers, recessed in to tunnels to meet the demanding draft re-quirement.(Photo courtesy Damen) PSV World Sapphire from Damen (Photo courtesy Eastern Shipbuilding) Bravante, built by Eastern, powered by Cummins (Photo: Incat Crowther) Sign of the Times ... Bulletproof pilothouse on 20m Crewboats MR #4 (10-17).indd 16MR #4 (10-17).indd 164/5/2014 3:16:05 PM4/5/2014 3:16:05 PM